


King's Counsel

by flightinflame



Series: The Genoshan Prince [4]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Prequel, Protective Erik, Treason, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-09-06 01:22:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20283058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Erik, King of Genosha, leads a powerful mutant force with the support of his four generals. They live without fear.It hasn't always been this way.Key moments in Erik's relationships with his generals, from "The Genoshan Prince" universe, set before the main stories.





	1. Lady of Ice.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Lourdesdeath for their ever-helpful betaing! This fic will be updating every Saturday for the next four weeks. 
> 
> First up - Emma, for the "Betrayal" square of my H/C bingo card.
> 
> Please be aware of warnings - I've not gone into detail at any point, and kept things implied, but be careful of yourself.

She's fourteen years old. When she bleeds, she turns herself to diamond. It's an age where most of the girls her age are dreaming of wedlock, of being a mother. Even among their kind, people dream of it, discuss what their child will be able to do. What they would consider lying with, which powers they'd want to pass on - and all of it passes her by.

She's fourteen years old. She's the ruler's right hand, his general. She is respected. The others of their kind fear her, and things are right. He speaks to her kindly, calls her his queen, and she relishes it. She doesn't care about the children in this land - she's never been maternal, and they are too young for war.

She's fourteen years old. She's not too young for war. She wears the jewels of their conquests, poses with diamond rings and golden necklaces. He brings her a flower of silver, made by a prisoner, and she wears it in her hair. A new boy arrives, and she ignores him. She has her own fights, and she likes the life she has. She has no space for care.

She's fifteen years old, and the boy watches her with strange eyes. He's opening his mind, and curiously she dips inside, expecting pleas. He addresses her clearly, his focus guiding his words.  
_I can help you._  
She snorts, and walks away. There's another mission planned, and she will be leading the troops.

She's seventeen years old when she returns. People pursue her now, and she laughs and sends them on their way. Some she even lets keep their memories. The boy is growing - taller, stronger. He's learning his skills, and he stares at her without flinching. He's a fighter. He asks her for a blade. She doesn't hand one over. She doesn't denounce him either.

She's eighteen years old, stuck in her human form for a few weeks, and the boy cares for her. She feels his hatred, screaming from every pore. He doesn't ask her for help again. She wonders what it would be like, if she had had someone help her when she was fourteen, the age he is now.  
_It's dangerous,_ she warns him. He looks at her with those strange eyes.  
_I know it is._

She's eighteen years old, and she was never meant to rule.  
_When you're eighteen,_ she offers, and expects the boy to refuse. He agrees.

She's twenty years old. The boy disappears, and she puts him from her mind.

She's twenty two years old. Still favoured, but there are others as well. He blames her for the boy's escape.

She's twenty six years old. She's his favourite. A general, as she was always meant to be. The boy has returned, a general as well, the air thick with his power. She knows that being second will never be enough for him.

She's twenty six years old. She holds him still as the boy slits his throat. 

She's twenty six years old. She has a new king now.


	2. Lord of Smoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azazel, for "major illness or injury" in h/c bingo.  
This chapter is the most blatant this series gets about sexual abuse, whilst very much not showing anything on screen. Please read with care!  
Importantly: This chapter starts prior to Erik being in charge in Genosha.

The first time that Azazel saw the man who would become his husband, he paid the youth no more attention than he had first bestowed on the boy who would go on to be his King. Stripped of his powers, Janos had been subdued, quiet. There were rumors the boy was dumb, or that he was a fool, that he'd had his tongue cut out. Azazel ignored him entirely. He had better things to do than concern himself with the king's companion. The youth's presence changed nothing other than meaning he and Erik drank a little more, laughed a little louder. He never minded - Erik was a good man to have at your side in a battle, and if he needed this Azazel would give it. He didn't bother learning the youth's name, not then - it wasn't like the boy would have heard it if he'd called out to him. So he ignored him, and carried on.

Until a misstep in battle had led to him being knocked unconscious, and captured. He'd nearly lost both his eyes in the following torture. Later, he would laugh with Erik and Emma about his appearance being spoiled, but he hadn't laughed when he'd awaited death. He'd fought back as hard as he could, and got new scars that one day Janos would trace, and overheard plans that Genosha could use. They collared him, and he was trapped until Erik found him.

The other general had brought him back to Genosha, released him from his collar, and he'd been left to recover.

It was on the third or fourth time of regaining consciousness that he opened his eyes to find the youth sat there. Wordlessly he handed him a note in the King's elegant script. ‘Rest, Azazel. I've sent Janos here to accompany you during your recovery. He won't answer back and his mouth has its uses. You did well.’ Azazel felt vaguely offended by the offer: he could have his pick of mutants, and if all else failed Erik was normally good for a quick tumble. He didn't need some boy too stupid to speak. 

The youth, Janos, glanced between Azazel's wounded face and the note. The general wondered if Janos understood why he was here.  
"Can you read?" he asked him, and Janos looked blank, then handed him a stub of charcoal from a pocket. Azazel turned the note over and wrote the question, and the youth nodded, then reached for the note and charcoal. 

'Is there anything I can do for you?'

'Sit with me?' Azazel wrote back. He wasn't pleased but he also wasn't fool enough to turn down the King's gift by sending Janos away. His body ached from the wounds he had received, he didn't want to be alone.

***

Janos proved to be excellent conversation despite his silence, interested in the life Azazel had lived before Genosha, offering stories of his own homeland in return. He would sit with him for hours as the general slowly regained his health, and brought him his meals, and asked neatly written questions. Azazel realised he was falling for him, and Janos certainly seemed to feel the same, smiling brilliantly whenever they saw each other. Azazel knew this was a dangerous game to play. But he adored him. 

As he recovered, he learned the signals Janos used, and conversation started to flow more smoothly between them. Then he was recovered. He looked at Janos now, wanted to talk with him, missed his company. Erik knew. 

Erik cornered him one day, Emma beside him.  
"Azazel. A word."

Emma locked eyes with him. _I'm prepared to wipe your memory of this conversation if you don't agree. Is that acceptable?_

Azazel nodded. He suspected treason. Had thought Erik was working towards it for a while: being a general never sat easily on him. He was suited to command.

Emma was on side, Essex never would be. Emma and Erik would have to work together to defeat the king, so they wanted Azazel to handle Essex. It was a good plan: risky but that kind of thing always would be. Erik was an excellent strategist, always had been. This would put a stop to the king's excesses, strengthen their country. But he wasn't going to just agree.  
"One condition. I get Janos."

"No," Erik said firmly, and Azazel stared at him in shock. Erik could have his pick of mutants, and Azazel had bedded Erik, knew his tastes. He knew Janos's silence would infuriate the man, Erik liked to argue, and Janos couldn't give him that.

Azazel glared at him.  
"Then I refuse." He wasn't letting Janos slip through his fingers into Erik's bed. 

"Janos isn't some pet to be auctioned to the highest bidder," Erik told him coldly. "If I give him to you, I'm just carrying on his ways." 

Emma pressed towards his mind, and Erik shook his head, holding out his hand.  
"Azazel?" he asked.

"I will fight for you, my lord," Azazel answered after a moment, bowing to kiss Erik's hand. Erik nodded once.  
"It'll be soon."

***

The King was dead, Janos' collar melted beside him, by the time Azazel teleported in, his mission complete. Erik and Emma looked exhausted but Janos was overjoyed, running to Azazel and embracing him. 

Erik looked Azazel in the eye and nodded. Azazel nodded back, his hand on the small of Janos' back.  
"Long live the king."


	3. Lady of Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ororo for "counselling" in h/c bingo, and we're finally within Erik's reign from the start.
> 
> [Made a moodboard for this fic](https://flightinflame.tumblr.com/post/187399141112/kings-counsel-erik-king-of-genosha-leads-a)

Ororo was afraid, when she bid her homelands goodbye. Afraid, but she didn't regret. Part of her had known this day would come, that one day the fragile peace they had with the old king would crumble, and she would have to make her choice. Her heart promised that if she protested, if she screamed and cried and begged - her parents would relent. They loved her too much to do this if she did not consent. They would enfold her in their arms - and her nation would fall to the Genoshan sword.

So she went in the place of those that would survive the Genoshan onslaught, offering herself in exchange for the lives of her people. It was a price worth paying. She was only a minor princess, but her talent meant she was the only one suitable - sending someone without abilities to Genosha would be seen as a grave insult to their new king. She didn't know what to expect of him - had heard the rumours. That he had been a General, that he had killed the man whose throne he had taken. Other rumours too, but it didn't do to pry too deeply, to try and guess what would befall her. She thought of her people, and let that thought make her strong.

The King himself came to greet her, a beautiful woman in white at his side, and she found herself considering for a moment how the metal wrapped around his wrists would respond to her lightning.

_Don't_, A female voice commanded, and she startled, stared at the woman. A telepath then.

"Princess," the King murmured, bowing his head slightly in a small show of respect. He greeted her first in Genoshan, then her own tongue, although he stumbled over the words. “It is good to meet you.”

"I speak Genoshan," she replied, startled that he would make the effort to greet her.

"I hope your journey wasn't too taxing."

"It was… not too troubling," she answered, trying not to let her fear overwhelm her. The woman in white stared straight at her, and then leaned in to whisper to the King. In its own way, that was a compliment as well, making it clear they were conversing. 

"Emma says you are afraid," The King told her quietly. "No harm will come to you here Princess-"

"Storm," Ororo answered. It wasn't the name she had gone by at home, other than by her family, but it brought back fond memories, would give her the strength to endure whatever was to come. "Just Storm, if you do not mind."

"As you wish." He paused. "Do you want something to eat? You've had a long journey."

"I..." She hesitated, and then a female voice sounded in her head again.

_Trust me, he's as interested in you as you are in him. Women aren't to his taste._ Storm could feel herself panicking suddenly, worried that her being here would somehow be an insult, that her family would fall because she wasn't enough. She went to fall to the floor, to prostrate herself - and was caught by the bracelets around her wrists holding her upright. Of course - the man before her controlled metal. Once she was stable on her feet, the grip released.

"No harm will come to you here," he told her once more. 

"Thank you, my King."

"You might as well call me Erik. Everyone else does," he admitted, earning himself a dirty look from the beautiful woman by his side.

"Thank you, Erik," Ororo answered, still confused by what was happening. "Why did you allow me here if..."

"Because I want this place to be a haven for our kind," Erik told her. "And if you wished to come here, I could not turn you away. Anyway, I have heard marvellous things of your abilities and wished to see for myself - if it is not too bold to ask."

"Not too bold," she promised, and closed her eyes, raising her hands to the heavens and calling forth rain. He gazed at her with admiration.

The woman sighed, and went to stand under the relative shelter of a nearby tree.

That night there was dancing and drinking, and she was able to show her powers and laugh - and it was almost enough to forget that a few hours ago, she had thought that she was never to laugh again. The next few days were a blur of adventure, learning more of the land she found herself in. She saw the King, but he always kept his distance, until he approached one day and bowed his head a little.  
"Storm, may I speak with you?"

"Of course..." She slipped away from the group of children she'd been teaching the basics of plant care too, walking with him away from other people. "What is it?"

"I believe now you have an understanding of what my kingdom offers to our kind. I wish to know - do you want me to rescue the rest? Say the word and I can ready my army for the rest of those gifted in your former homeland."

"No," she said quickly. "This place is... is a wonder, but it is not their home."

"Perhaps you could convey that any who wish to have a home here do?" Erik asked. "On your return?"

"You're sending me away?" she asked, a little startled. Idly she thought of the promises she had made to the children, that she would help them learn which plants grew best in which soils and seasons.

"If you wish it. You came here, and persuaded me not to ransack your homeland. I believe that was your duty."

She nodded, looking at him. This wasn't her home - but she thought in time it could be. And her powers helped people here. She'd already found that she was useful to kill the fires some of the children started by accident, and she feared what would happen if she wasn't around.  
"And if I wish to stay?"

"If you wish to stay, I would offer you a place as one of my Generals. I am not looking for a Queen, but I would be honoured to fight at your side."

"May I think on it?"

"Of course." He nodded. "Either way Storm, the pleasure of your company has meant a lot to me." With that, he walked away.

She returned to her parents’ home to visit, to pass on her new King's message, and to collect a few belongings too precious for her initial trip. And then she returned. When they turned on Stryker's kingdom, she fought beside her King.


	4. Lord of Bone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt "experiments by evil scientists" in H/C bingo

Something had changed. That realisation sunk slowly into Logan's pain addled mind. Something was different. The two bastards that had been torturing him for gods only knew how long hadn't been to visit for a long time. He was pinned by straps that held him tight, but one day those would rot and he would run. Anyone else would starve or die of thirst, but he lingered, his body refusing to let him find the peace he screamed for. The world receded to his agony and terror, and he remained trapped. They didn't come for him. 

He promised himself in rare moments of lucidity that he could feel the straps that bound him giving way a little. 

He wasn't sure his mind would survive this, even if his body couldn't help but continue on. 

Noise outside of his own screams hurt his ears, and he snarled and struggled and howled at the light that fell across his face. 

_Calm,_ a woman ordered. He couldn't remember when he'd last been spoken to. The bastards had spoken of him, not to him. This was different. He tried to focus on that, and if he was screaming he could no longer hear it. 

He woke to find there was something on his face, covering his eyes. He tried to reach for it, but the straps felt firmer than before. He sobbed in frustration.

_With your permission I would like to help you sleep until the worst of the physical damage is healed._

Remembering to nod in consent was hard, and the movement hurt- and then there was quiet. 

Time passed, but he didn't know of it. He wasn't aware of his body being cleaned, old wounds being healed, food and water being given, his unconscious form being exposed to sound and light until a lowly lit room or a softly spoken voice wouldn't cause agony. 

He woke, to find a man stood beside him, the king's telepath a short distance behind. He drew his lips back to snarl at her, and she ignored him. She was older now, a woman not a girl, but he hadn't forgiven her for what had happened. There had been too much pain. 

He remembered her clumsy attempts to use the boy's powers, the child a puppet, and then when that had failed her holding him still as the boy worked. 

He remembered the boy's eyes full of tears. The pain of tendrils of metal beneath his skin, encasing bone. The boy murmuring apologies as he worked. Trying to speak himself, to tell the kid he wasn't at fault, that it was those bastards. He got beaten for that, but that was nothing compared to the pain of the metal coursing through him. He remembered the lost look in those grey eyes as the boy was collared and taken away. 

Those same eyes were looking at him now, from the face of the man beside the telepath.  
"Ma-"

"I prefer Erik," Erik said softly, reaching out to rest a hand against his. There were no straps now. He was no longer trapped, but lifting himself was hard.

“Erik,” Logan repeated, and his voice sounded strange, echoing.

“You were kept away from the main buildings. It took a while to find you,” Erik told him. “It’s been six months since they died. It’s over.”

He stared at him in confusion. It didn’t make sense. How could it be over - how could any of it have stopped - he could feel fear and panic bubbling, and then the telepath forcing him to calm. 

Erik watched him, and then carefully squeezed his hand.  
“I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Weren’t your fault kid,” he muttered, staring at him. Erik had to be in his mid-twenties now - so that had been more than a decade ago, and it hadn’t been the start of their torture, not by a long way. He shuddered. He wanted to ask things, but he couldn’t, because he didn’t know what answers he could get. Eventually, he realised there was only one question worth asking. "What happens now?"

"You get your strength back. Genosha is being reformed into something better." Erik told him, and he nodded because honestly, the kid had already got him out from that hell and it wasn't like Genosha could get much worse. 

That evening, food was brought and he was left alone. 

That night, he lost track of where he was. Memories swelled up, and he found that the restraints had been left undone. He extended his claws, searching for the bastards who had tortured him. He shredded the first tent he found, heard screaming - and then he was forced to his knees, his arms splayed out, unable to fight or move, just pinned in place. He was the one screaming.

"Breathe," a male voice ordered, as a female voice in his head spoke to him.  
_Breathe, Logan. Breathe. You are free._

Slowly, the world around him resolved, and he realised he had torn apart the shelter he had been recovering in. Erik was beside him, kneeling, his hands resting on Logan's shoulders. He remembered the metal - but he wasn't moving it this time, just holding him down so no one was hurt.

It took a long time before Logan nodded, and the pressure pinning him to the floor released. He was taken to a new shelter, and Erik wrapped metal around his wrists and ankles, trapping him. He hated it. He knew it was necessary. 

In the morning, he was released from the bonds, and he spent the day alone.

It settled into a routine. Erik would secure him each night, but the days were his own. He explored the camp, and the surrounding forest. He saw children watching him, and after a short while they wandered over, included him in their games, and he found himself smiling. 

This place was better than it had been. 

He accompanied Erik to war because he wouldn't be safe to be left alone. He fought well, and they returned home. He had friends - he teased Storm about her new friend, and was proved right a few weeks later when he stumbled upon them kissing. 

Humans came to the camp, and he smelled them before they could attack. Their bodies were left as a warning, and Erik thanked him. He noticed when the water supply had been tainted, chased off would-be attackers, earned a promotion. If Storm had taken Erik's place as a General, then he had taken the place of the bastard who had cut him open, and he felt a cold joy in that.

There were gaps. Memories he couldn't recall, more than he would admit to. The telepath knew of course, but they seemed to have come to an unspoken truce. He couldn't fill in the holes, so he built around them. He learned the names of the younger mutants, the ones that didn't fear him. 

He found a girl, who had made her own way to Genosha, who was as lost as he was. Who was afraid of what she could do - whose very touch could kill. Who was able to stop him. He no longer needed to be bound by metal to sleep.

When the army prepared to fight Westchester, he wished Rogue goodbye, promised the younger children he would return. He fought alongside his people. When the captives were brought back, he stood and watched as their own leader taught them Genoshan, and he learned the children's names. 

His nightmares wouldn't stop. He worked around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the general chapters! Thank you all so much for reading and your support - there will be an Erik backstory to come, but only after I've finished posting the main story. See you then!


End file.
